Column: Working to keep your city safe

Temporary Superintendant Simon Wanless

As we approach the end of the year, this column is an ideal opportunity to reflect on the last 12 months and share some of our policing highlights across Sheffield.

We’ve recently completed Operation Duxford in Sheffield, with concerted police activity in key areas of our city responding to issues that matter most to people in our local communities, such as drug-related crime and antisocial behaviour.

After only one day’s action we seized around 15kg of suspected Class A drugs, one of the largest seizures in Sheffield for several years.

The obvious police activity will, I hope, have been reassuring to the public and a very visible show of our commitment, but I want to stress that we have officers and staff working day in, day out, to keep your city safe.

A great example of this is Operation Fortify, which was covered in the Star last month. This is a targeted operation to tackle drug, gun and gang crime in Sheffield – we know the fear such crimes can create within our local communities and the Fortify team are working relentlessly to pursue any individual who feels they are above the law.

We also had Operation Past in June, which resulted in around eight kilograms of Class A and B drugs seized, as well as around £40,000 cash.

This summer 11 members of a criminal network were sentenced for a combined total of 72 years for drugs and firearms offences. Orchestrated by Joe Mitchell, who was jailed for 15 years in June, his family and friends also received jail terms for their role in drug dealing in Parson Cross.

The significant drugs and firearms seizures we’ve seen in the last year, as well as the hefty jail terms handed out, will have hit organised criminal groups and we won’t stop until these dangerous people are behind bars.

In May, we had a historic ruling at Sheffield Crown Court when a Sheffield man was found guilty of coercive control and jailed, the first person to be convicted of this offence. A truly landmark achievement for South Yorkshire Police and the communities we serve.

While we have invested considerable resources into tackling organised criminality and domestic abuse, this does not mean that our focus has shifted from other areas of crime that can also have a devastating impact on victims like burglaries, robberies and thefts.

The force’s Christmas crime prevention campaign is under way and there are some useful and simple steps we can all take to reduce our chances of falling victim to burglaries and thefts.

More information is available on our website and social media accounts.

Please don’t make it easy for burglars to ruin what should be a wonderful time of year.

I’d like to end by wishing you all a very happy holidays and express my best wishes to our local communities for a happy and safe 2017.